Adds Araqchi comments in paragraph 3-4

By Antoni Slodkowski and Liz Lee

BEIJING, May 6 (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met China's top diplomat in Beijing on Wednesday, underscoring close ties between the two countries shortly before U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to meet with Xi Jinping.

Araqchi's visit, announced by state news agency Xinhua, is his first trip to China since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran set off the most severe global oil supply shock in history and undermined the energy security of China, the world's top crude importer.

Before the war, China bought more than 80% of Iran's shipped oil, data for 2025 from analytics firm Kpler shows.

During a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Araqchi said, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency, that China is a close friend of Iran and bilateral "cooperation will even become stronger under current circumstances".

"We will do our best to protect our legitimate rights and interests in the negotiations ... We only accept a fair and comprehensive agreement," he added regarding talks between Iran and the U.S. to end the conflict that has severely disrupted Middle Eastern energy infrastructure and global oil and gas flows.

Earlier this week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged China to intensify its diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping.

Bessent said Trump and Xi would exchange views on Iran in person during their May 14 to 15 talks in Beijing. He added the two will seek to keep the steady U.S.-China relationship on track following a trade truce in October.

Bessent urged China to "join us in this international operation" to open the strait, but did not specify what actions Beijing should take. He added that China and Russia should stop blocking initiatives at the United Nations, including a resolution encouraging steps to protect commercial shipping in the strait.

Earlier this week, the U.S. and Iran launched new attacks in the Gulf as they wrestled for control over the strait with duelling maritime blockades, threatening what was already a fragile truce.

Trump later said the U.S. Navy would help ships pass through the strait. But that operation was paused after Trump on Tuesday said there had been "great progress" made toward a comprehensive agreement with Iran.

There was no immediate reaction from Tehran.

The Iranian foreign minister on Monday said the attacks, taking place ‌after he said Tehran was looking into Trump's request ​for negotiations, showed there was no military solution to the crisis.

China has engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activity and refrained from forceful criticism of the U.S.' conduct of the war so that the summit, already postponed once by the conflict, can go smoothly, analysts have told Reuters.

China has repeatedly urged the U.S. and Iran to maintain the ceasefire and lift the restrictions in the strait. Trump has also credited Beijing with helping to get Iran to attend last month's peace talks in Pakistan.

Last week, China ​escalated its opposition to U.S. sanctions against Chinese oil refineries over purchases of Iranian crude. Its Ministry of Commerce ordered ​companies not to comply with U.S. sanctions against five independent refiners, including the recently designated Hengli Petrochemical, invoking for the ‌first time ⁠a law that allows Beijing to retaliate against entities enforcing sanctions that it deems unlawful.